Luis Seabra Xisto Limitado Branco 2022

For nearly two decades, Luis Seabra has been at the center of a cultural shift in Portuguese winemaking, leading a movement of young, independent winemakers making history by reclaiming historical vineyards, grape varieties, and techniques. After a celebrated career as a soil researcher in Vinho Verde,enology instructor, and producer of world-famous still wines in Douro, Seabra finally launched his own small winery in 2013, Luis Seabra Vinhos. His work is dedicated to proving that fresh, elegant, terroir-driven still wines can be made in this region, despite centuries of byzantine traditions that favor commodity growers, overripe fruit, and massive internationally owned wineries.

Seabra’s fundamental understanding of terroir coupled with his philosophy of minimal intervention in the vineyard and winery have launched him into the international eye as a leader of the “New Portugal” renaissance. According to Eric Asimov of The New York Times, Seabra “making some of Portugal’s most compelling wines, both white and red.” As his project in Douro has grown, he has expanded his work to include special projects in neighboring regions like Vinho Verde and Dão. Regardless of where he works, at the end of the day, Luis simply wants to make wines that he enjoys drinking: wines that clearly communicate a sense of place, ideally made from old vines. For him, the ideal wines are restrained yet vibrant, balanced, and ageworthy.

Luis Seabra was born into a coffee farming family in Angola and returned to Portugal in the 1970s. Although he did not grow up in a winemaking environment, his father’s family is originally from Douro, which is where Luis has made his mark as a champion of terroir-driven winemaking. He studied viticulture at the university in Vila Real, in the Alto Douro region of northern Portugal, the crossroads between Douro and Tras-os-Montes. After graduation he spent some time as a teacher, but his boundless curiosity quickly led him to work in soil research and later for one of the large cooperatives in Vinho Verde. Most famously, Luis launched a revolutionary still wine program in 2004 while working at Niepoort, upending 300 years of tradition that kept Douro entrenched in the world of fortified wines, with very few exceptions.

Bright straw yellow. On the nose, stone and orchard fruit abound, with flinty wet stone and white pepper laid over the dominant aromatics. On the palate, impressively bright and mineral driven, with a great balance between power and lift. Lemon, green apple, bosc pear flavors comingle with a touch of floral tone and slate minerals. Juicy and mineral-driven all at once.

Producer: Luis Seabra

Country: Portugal

Region: Douro

Varietal: Rabigato, Gouveio, Códega, Viosinho

Appellation: Douro DOC 

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml